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<h1 id="title">EPOReferralQ4</h1>
<div dir="ltr" id="content" lang="en"><span class="anchor" id="top"></span>
<span class="anchor" id="line-1"></span><p class="line867"><a href="https://ffii.org/EPOReferral">EPO Referral main page</a> (page 11) <span class="anchor" id="line-2"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-3"></span><p class="line867">
<h1 id="A3.4._QUESTION_4_.28A.29_DOES_THE_ACTIVITY_OF_PROGRAMMING_A_COMPUTER_NECESSARILY_INVOLVE_TECHNICAL_CONSIDERATIONS.3F">3.4. QUESTION 4 (A) DOES THE ACTIVITY OF PROGRAMMING A COMPUTER NECESSARILY INVOLVE TECHNICAL CONSIDERATIONS?</h1>
<span class="anchor" id="line-4"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-5"></span><p class="line867"><em>Comments here</em> <span class="anchor" id="line-6"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-7"></span><p class="line867">
<h1 id="A.28B.29_IF_.28A.29_IS_ANSWERED_IN_THE_POSITIVE.2C_DO_ALL_FEATURES_RESULTING_FROM_PROGRAMMING_THUS_CONTRIBUTE_TO_THE_TECHNICAL_CHARACTER_OF_A_CLAIM.3F">(B) IF (A) IS ANSWERED IN THE POSITIVE, DO ALL FEATURES RESULTING FROM PROGRAMMING THUS CONTRIBUTE TO THE TECHNICAL CHARACTER OF A CLAIM?</h1>
<span class="anchor" id="line-8"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-9"></span><p class="line867"><em>Comments here</em> <span class="anchor" id="line-10"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-11"></span><p class="line867">
<h1 id="A.28C.29_IF_.28A.29_IS_ANSWERED_IN_THE_NEGATIVE.2C_CAN_FEATURES_RESULTING_FROM_PROGRAMMING_CONTRIBUTE_TO_THE_TECHNICAL_CHARACTER_OF_A_CLAIM_ONLY_WHEN_THEY_CONTRIBUTE_TO_A_FURTHER_TECHNICAL_EFFECT_WHEN_THE_PROGRAM_ls_EXECUTED.3F">(C) IF (A) IS ANSWERED IN THE NEGATIVE, CAN FEATURES RESULTING FROM PROGRAMMING CONTRIBUTE TO THE TECHNICAL CHARACTER OF A CLAIM ONLY WHEN THEY CONTRIBUTE TO A FURTHER TECHNICAL EFFECT WHEN THE PROGRAM ls EXECUTED?</h1>
<span class="anchor" id="line-12"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-13"></span><p class="line867"><em>Comments here</em> <span class="anchor" id="line-14"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-15"></span><p class="line867">
<h2 id="I._Background">I. Background</h2>
<span class="anchor" id="line-16"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-17"></span><p class="line874">Article 52(2) and (3) EPC defines a non-exhaustive list of subject-matter and activities <span class="anchor" id="line-18"></span>which, as such, shall not be regarded as inventions. This list includes programs for <span class="anchor" id="line-19"></span>computers. The Boards of Appeal have consistently grouped the excluded subject-matter <span class="anchor" id="line-20"></span>and activities under the heading 'lacking technical character' (e.g. T 1173/97, Reasons, 5.2 <span class="anchor" id="line-21"></span>and T 258/03, Reasons, 3.1). <span class="anchor" id="line-22"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-23"></span><p class="line874">What is not specified in the EPC is whether, or under which circumstances, the activity <span class="anchor" id="line-24"></span>associated with creating programs for computers, i.e. programming a computer, is a <span class="anchor" id="line-25"></span>technical activity which is in principle patentable, or a non-technical activity which is as <span class="anchor" id="line-26"></span>such excluded from patentability. <span class="anchor" id="line-27"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-28"></span><p class="line874">The answer to this question affects the definition of person skilled in the art, and <span class="anchor" id="line-29"></span>consequently the nature of problems that can be presented as the objective technical <span class="anchor" id="line-30"></span>problem. Therefore, it is of key importance in the field of computer technology that there is <span class="anchor" id="line-31"></span>clarity concerning the skills attributable to the skilled person. <span class="anchor" id="line-32"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-33"></span><p class="line867"><em>Comments here</em> <span class="anchor" id="line-34"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-35"></span><p class="line867">
<h2 id="II_The_diverging_decisions">II The diverging decisions</h2>
<span class="anchor" id="line-36"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-37"></span><p class="line874">Decision T 1177/97 (13) was concerned with a computer implemented method of translation <span class="anchor" id="line-38"></span>between natural languages. The Board found (Reasons, 3, 7th paragraph) that <span class="anchor" id="line-39"></span>"implementing a function on a computer system always involves, at least implicitly, <span class="anchor" id="line-40"></span>technical considerations". The reference to 'computer routines' makes clear that this <span class="anchor" id="line-41"></span>implementation consisted of programming the computer (Reasons, 7, 3rd paragraph): <span class="anchor" id="line-42"></span>"Choosing to apply one or the other [translation] principle has clearly consequences for the <span class="anchor" id="line-43"></span>technical implementation ... since the computer routines have to work differently". <span class="anchor" id="line-44"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-45"></span><p class="line874">Furthermore, decision T 172/03 (14), emphasised (Reasons, 6 and 7) that the person skilled <span class="anchor" id="line-46"></span>in the art is a technical expert, to whom it is inappropriate to attribute professional ! <span class="anchor" id="line-47"></span>competence in non-technological fields. In this decision the Board defined the skilled <span class="anchor" id="line-48"></span>person as a software project team, consisting of programmers (Reasons, 1 6)-.-The <span class="anchor" id="line-49"></span>technical problem posed to this skilled person was the software implementation of the non- <span class="anchor" id="line-50"></span>technical order management method (Reasons, 20 and 21). <span class="anchor" id="line-51"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-52"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-53"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-54"></span><p class="line874">Contrary to these decisions, T 833/91 (15) (Reasons, 3.2), T 204/93 (16) (Reasons, 3.2) and <span class="anchor" id="line-55"></span>T 769/92 (17) (Reasons, 3.7, 5th paragraph) all considered that a programmer's activity, i.e. <span class="anchor" id="line-56"></span>writing computer programs, falls within the exclusions set out in Art. 52(2)(c) EPC. The <span class="anchor" id="line-57"></span>decisions consider programming to be a mental act of the programmer. <span class="anchor" id="line-58"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-59"></span><p class="line874">(13) T 1177/97 - No headword <span class="anchor" id="line-60"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-61"></span><p class="line874">(14) T 172/03 - Order management/RICOH <span class="anchor" id="line-62"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-63"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-64"></span><p class="line867"><em>Comments here</em> <span class="anchor" id="line-65"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-66"></span><p class="line867">
<h2 id="III_The_divergence">III The divergence</h2>
<span class="anchor" id="line-67"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-68"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-69"></span><p class="line874">It seems that the former decisions view programming along the same lines as the <span class="anchor" id="line-70"></span>configuration of a technical apparatus. This would of course hold even when the method <span class="anchor" id="line-71"></span>that the computer is being programmed to carry out is non-technical in nature. <span class="anchor" id="line-72"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-73"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-74"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-75"></span><p class="line874">However, it has to be noted that modern (high-level) programming languages do their <span class="anchor" id="line-76"></span>utmost to render technical considerations unnecessary. The term 'programming' is broad <span class="anchor" id="line-77"></span>and ranges from writing in low-level languages (e.g. assembly language) which are <span class="anchor" id="line-78"></span>intimately linked to the hardware being programmed, to high level languages which are <span class="anchor" id="line-79"></span>truly isolated from any details of the hardware. Even such things as recording a macro <span class="anchor" id="line-80"></span>(recording a sequence of steps to be carried out on a computer, often in the environment <span class="anchor" id="line-81"></span>of an office application such as a word processor or spreadsheet) must be considered to <span class="anchor" id="line-82"></span>be a form of programming, even though this would generally be carried out by an expert, <span class="anchor" id="line-83"></span>or even a day-to-day user, of the office application rather than a technically skilled <span class="anchor" id="line-84"></span>computer expert. <span class="anchor" id="line-85"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-86"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-87"></span><p class="line874">The latter decisions place more emphasis on the link between the resulting product, which <span class="anchor" id="line-88"></span>is as such explicitly excluded from patentability, and the activity of producing it. Decision <span class="anchor" id="line-89"></span>T 1173/97 also gives an indication (Reasons, 1 1.4-1 1.5) that it implicitly agrees with the <span class="anchor" id="line-90"></span>point of view given in T 204/93. This is further supported by a statement by the United <span class="anchor" id="line-91"></span>Kingdom delegation in the travaux préparatoires (18), according to which computer programs <span class="anchor" id="line-92"></span>were to be understood as a 'mathematical application of a logical series of steps in a <span class="anchor" id="line-93"></span>process which was no different from a mathematical method'. <span class="anchor" id="line-94"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-95"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-96"></span><p class="line874">If a computer program is deemed to lack technical character (i.e. it is a computer program <span class="anchor" id="line-97"></span>as such), it could follow that the activity used to produce the program has to be considered <span class="anchor" id="line-98"></span>similarly non-technical in nature. <span class="anchor" id="line-99"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-100"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-101"></span><p class="line874">The effects caused by a computer program (which may or may not contribute to its <span class="anchor" id="line-102"></span>technical character) may occur when the program is executed (for instance how much <span class="anchor" id="line-103"></span>memory it occupies, how quickly it carries out the tasks for which it was programmed, ' <span class="anchor" id="line-104"></span>etc.). On the other hand, there may be effects relating to software development which <span class="anchor" id="line-105"></span>affect the programmer ¡n his work (ease of maintenance of the program, flexibility, <span class="anchor" id="line-106"></span>portability, reusability etc.). . <span class="anchor" id="line-107"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-108"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-109"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-110"></span><p class="line874">It seems important to consider the actual tasks performed by a programmer. Would he be <span class="anchor" id="line-111"></span>responsible for the design of the technical system and the role that the computer program <span class="anchor" id="line-112"></span>plays therein, and thus be solving technical problems, or would the design be the task of <span class="anchor" id="line-113"></span>an engineer who would then pass on his (programming) requirements to the programmer? <span class="anchor" id="line-114"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-115"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-116"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-117"></span><p class="line874">Furthermore, does the answer depend on whether the considerations of a programmer <span class="anchor" id="line-118"></span>involve any technical details of the particular computer on which the program will run? <span class="anchor" id="line-119"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-120"></span><p class="line867"><em>Comments here</em> <span class="anchor" id="line-121"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-122"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-123"></span><p class="line874">(15) T 833/91 - No headword  <span class="anchor" id="line-124"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-125"></span><p class="line874">(16) T 204/93 - No headword  <span class="anchor" id="line-126"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-127"></span><p class="line874">(17) T 769/92 - General purpose management system/SOHEl (OJ EPO 8/1995, 525)  <span class="anchor" id="line-128"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-129"></span><p class="line874">(18) Minutes of the 9th meeting of Working Party I, Luxembourg, 12-22 October 1971, BR 135 e/71 prk, p50, 96  <span class="anchor" id="line-130"></span><span class="anchor" id="bottom"></span></div><p id="pageinfo" class="info" lang="en" dir="ltr">EPOReferralQ4  (last edited 2009-08-15 23:47:17 by <span title="??? @ localhost[127.0.0.1]">localhost</span>)</p>

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